General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Remember the old Soviet Union? [View all]Igel
(35,408 posts)When talking about Shalamov.
Check out the "Kolyma Tales." The publication of this work was evidence that Gorbachev was really tackling repression of dissident speech. Scholars went through word by word to make sure it wasn't bowdlerized when it was printed.
Kolyma was an old tsarist penal colony. Lenin closed it to much acclaim.
Lenin re-opened it to silence.
Stalin caused it to flourish. It had a death rate like no other. Many would have preferred execution to Kolyma. You die either way, but in one case it's after a lot of pain, suffering, and humiliation.
Estimates of those killed there are high. They were controversial, until somebody checked Lloyd's of London records. The only way there was by ship. Stalin ensured the ships with Lloyd's. Valuable cargo, those slaves ... er, inmates. (This was when the American Communist Party still supported Stalin.)
Do not read the Kolyma Tales before bedtime. And keep a bottle of something strongly alcoholic around.